Falling on the Ice
by twilightstargazer
Summary: It's winter time at Hogwarts. You know what that means; snow, hot cocoa and, of course, ice skating! Fluff. Xxx written for Jily Secret Santa 2012 xxX


**_Written for Holly (tumblr: chairmanmeows) who wanted anything Jily!_**

**_Enjoy~_**

**_:)_**

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It was a cold wintery day at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The silvery rays of sunlight left the piles of fresh snow glittering in its wake. The grounds were virtually deserted and everything was covered in the frozen precipitation making them look cheery and lovely. It even made the Whomping Willow look deceptively innocent. The Black Lake was completely frozen over, with heaps of snow at its edges. The castle itself was dusted in shades of whites and silvers, all the way down to the very last brick. The entire scene created a picturesque image, something akin as to what one may find on a Christmas card.

However, the soft silence which accompanied the beautiful picture was suddenly pierced by a loud curse, followed quickly by a 'thump'.

A young witch by the name of Lily Evans was lying spread eagle atop the frozen lake, swearing at the top of her lungs while a few paces behind her stood a messy haired James Potter who was trying not to laugh (albeit, he wasn't trying _that_ hard)

You see, young Miss Evans was ice skating. Or _learning_ to ice skate, to be more precise. And her teacher was the one and only James Potter who was doing more laughing than teaching really. One would think that it would be the other way around, Lily teaching and James falling flat on his face in his fruitless attempts, but that obviously wasn't the case. When James was growing up, his mother had made him learn how to ice skate among many other things. And Lily? Well whenever it was snowing in Cokeworth, she was usually having a snowball fight with her dad instead of going skating with her sister.

After James found out that she could barely stay upright on the ice, he insisted on her learning, saying that it was completely scandalous that in all her years here at Hogwarts she never went skating on the ice, not even once.

James had overheard Lily and her friends talking about coming out later today to play on the ice at the beginning of the week. Lily had declined, saying that she rather stay inside and finish up her Charms essay instead. After she'd left for her next class, James had sprung on an unsuspecting Mary Macdonald and interrogated her as to the real reason why Lily had refused their offer, and, after a making a promise to prank Phillipa Bulstrode for ruining all of Mary's books (she'd 'accidently' upended an inkwell right over Mary's book bag), he'd gotten all the information he needed to set his plan in motion.

It began with him getting up at the crack of dawn to head down to the kitchens to ask the House Elves to prepare a separate breakfast for the two of them and collect a small basket which contained two pairs of skates and a flask of steaming hot cocoa. Then, he made his way back up to Gryffindor tower where he was met with a grumpy and bleary eyed Lily Evans. He'd ask Mary the day before to get her up early so they could start their lesson without having a million and one students surrounding them.

It had taken some serious persuasion (James had to do the next two patrol schedules by himself) before Lily had grudgingly agreed to come along. Although once she saw where they were heading, she immediately did a U turn and doubled back to castle. James had to run to catch her again. Eventually, after much pleading on James' part and much stubbornness on Lily's, she had finally decided to give it one shot.

And now, having come a full circle, we are back where we started, with Lily lying on the ice and James laughing at her.

Pushing himself off the tree, James effortlessly glided over to where Lily was pouting petulantly after having scrambled into a sitting position. She was regretting coming out here with every passing second. It's just so damn hard to say no to James Potter when he's looking at you like _that_. Granted that she had been saying no to him for the past four years, but still, that was before she took a liking to him.

Although, no boy was worth _this_, look or no look.

Lily was tired and grumpy after being rudely awakened by Mary (who yelled rather loudly in her ear "Oi**,** Sleeping Beauty! Prince Charming's waiting for you downstairs!**"**) She was hungry (the cocoa did nothing to help) and she had stopped feeling her ears and fingers for quite some time now.

"Alright**,** Evans?" James asked as he pulled her up once more. His gloved hand was warm in hers.

"Just peachy," she snapped sarcastically, dusting off the snow from her pants.

"Good to know," he replied, effectively ignoring her very blatant sarcasm, "Because you're going to try that again."

Lily groaned. He had made her do the same thing for the past hour. It wasn't anything overly special he was teaching her, just how to skate in a straight line, but since he'd shown her she had made very little progress. She could barely go five feet with falling back on her bum.

"Come on**,** Evans," James said as he demonstrated it again. He moved lithely and fluidly, not once stumbling or falling like Lily. "It's not that hard."

"For you," she muttered crossly under her breath. "You've been doing this since you could walk."

"Ah, Evans, you're mixing up my talents. I've been flying since I could walk. I only started this when I was five."

Lily shot a withering glare at him.

"Don't be an arse**,** Potter."

"Can't help it, love. It's what I do best."

She would've hit him if her hands weren't busy helping her keep her balance.

Taking a deep breath, Lily tentatively moved her right foot a couple inches in front her left. When she didn't immediately fall, a small smile crept up on her face. She snuck a glance at James, who'd moved back to lean against the tree. He in turn shot her an encouraging smile. She continued moving towards James, wobbling slightly, but never falling. Gaining a bit of speed, Lily giggled happily and said to James**:**

"Look**,** James! Look! I'm doing it! I'm actually skating!"

"That's great**,** Lily!" he said back, watching as she hurriedly came closer and closer. "But now you need to stop!"

"How do I do that?!" Lily asked as she drew closer and closer.

"Just stop moving your feet or bend your knees or-"

_BAM!_

With a small scream, Lily crashed into James, who in turn lost his balance and fell to the ground carrying Lily with him and landing in a tangle of limbs.

"Or crash into a person," Lily said wryly.

"You okay**,** Evans?" James asked, his eyes quickly raking over her for any visible signs of injuries.

"I'm fine- I think," she replied. "What about you?"

"Well other than the fact that a tiny redhead is sitting on my chest and cutting off most of my oxygen, I'm just dandy."

"Sorry!" Lily squealed as she disentangled herself from James and tried to get up, cheeks flaming. Unfortunately, Lily hadn't quite mastered the art of getting up from the slippery ice without someone or something to help her up. She slid back down on top of James again, knocking the breath out of both of them with a soft 'oomph.'

Lily cursed.

"I can't get up," she grumbled.

"I realised," James responded dryly.

She hit his shoulder.

"Well, what are we going to do? I very well can't stay on top of you until some poor sods come along and take pity on us. And don't," she added once she saw James open his mouth to speak, "Don't even think about making any type of suggestive comments or else I'll hit you somewhere lower than the shoulder."

James's eyes widened comically, behind his glasses.

"Can't you at least try to get up, Evans?"

"I tried and ended up falling back down! And you're not exactly helping!"

Sighing, James shut his eyes and started to give her step by step instructions on how to get off him and back on the ice. Maybe bringing her out here to learn how to skate wasn't exactly the best idea.

After about ten minutes full of numerous sighs, groans and swearing, both students were once again back on the feet.

"Can we go inside now?" Lily pleaded.

"No. I told you I would teach you how to skate, so we're not leaving until you can."

Lily groaned. "Please**,** James?"

She was pouting now, and making her green eyes big and wide, in a perfect pleading expression. James's resolve wavered.

Shaking his head to clear it from the cobwebs, he stared resolutely at a spot right above her shoulder to avoid looking at her.

"No."

"Please**,** James?'

"Nope." There was a tree behind her. It was really quite interesting.

"_James_."

Without his consent, his eyes flickered over to her gaze and his resolve crumbled.

"Fine," he sighed, "But let's just give it one more shot, okay?"

Lily nodded happily.

James took her gloved hand in his. "Right then," he said. "I'm going to skate and you're going to follow. Hold on to my hand."

Without waiting for her to say anything, James started skating, dragging Lily behind him. She let out a small yelp as he took off without warning, and stumbled through the first few movements, but soon enough she caught hold of the timing and managed to keep up with him. They weren't going overly fast, just a slow glide so Lily would get the hang of it. They went around the entire perimeter of the Lake, with James sometimes helping out Lily whenever she stumbled, before he gently stopped, holding her by her shoulders to stop her as well.

They'd stop right at the tree where James had left the basket with the hot cocoa. They were still holding hands.

"That was actually fun," Lily said softly, staring up at him.

James didn't reply, instead he took out his wand and conjured up a thick red blanket and spread it on the ground. He sat down first, before gently pulling her down next to him. They were sitting very close to each other, their arms and legs brushing against the other. He poured out two cups of hot cocoa and handed her one before turning to her and saying in a low voice: "That was probably the most fun I've had in my entire life."

Lily blushed lightly. James moved closer and pushed a lock of her hair behind her ear. Their noses were almost touching, and their breaths were mingling together. He moved slowly towards her, giving Lily ample time to turn away. Instead, she raised her head, lightly brushing her lips against his in a small butterfly kiss before pulling back.

James stopped her, cupping her cheek with his hands and pulled her towards him, almost torturously slow, watching as her eyes widened at first before fluttering close, a light pink colour staining her cheeks.

Their lips met together in a perfect kiss. It was a small kiss, nothing as dramatic as it was in the movies, but still as mind blowing and breath taking.

They parted after a few moments, cheeks flushed and noses still touching.

"Hey**,** Evans?" James said softly, a lazy grin on his face.

"Hmm?"

"Does this mean you'll go out with me now?"

Lily gave a little breathless laugh before wrapping her hands around his neck and pulling him closer.

"What do you think**,** Potter?" she asked before pulling his still grinning mouth to hers once more.

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_**Tada! I hope you liked it! Merry Christmas!**_

_**:)**_


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